Father of the Republic of Indonesia, the Marxist who fused communism with Islam
“If you think you can direct the Indonesian revolution from Moscow, you are no different from the colonialists.” — to Alimin, who came to Manila seeking approval for the 1926 uprising
Chairman of the Indonesian Communist Party and author of 'Towards the Republic of Indonesia.' He argued Marxism and Pan-Islamism must unite, broke with the Comintern, and after 1945 shook the fledgling republic with his demand for uncompromised independence.
Career timeline
- 1913Graduates from Kweekschool at Fort de Kock; receives high adat title of datuk
- 1913–1919Studies in the Netherlands; radicalised by the October Revolution and turns to Marxism
- 1919–1920Teaches children of tea-plantation coolies in Deli, Sumatra; writes 'Land of Paupers'
- 1921.6Founds 'Sarekat Islam Schools' (Tan Malaka Schools) in Semarang; spreads to Bandung
- 1921.12Elected chairman of the PKI at the Semarang congress, succeeding Semaun
- 1922Arrested by Dutch authorities; exiled to the Netherlands; stands as CPN parliamentary candidate
- 1922–1923Attends the Fourth Comintern Congress in Moscow; advocates communism–Pan-Islamism alliance
- 1923–1925Comintern Eastern Bureau agent; writes 'Towards the Republic of Indonesia' in Canton
- 1925–1927Based in Manila; opposes the PKI's 1926 uprising but fails to stop it
- 1927Founds the Indonesian Republic Party (PARI) in Bangkok, breaking with the Comintern
- 1927–1942Underground across China, Singapore, and the Philippines under aliases; writes 'Madilog'
- 1945–1946Returns to Indonesia; founds the Struggle Union (Persatuan Perjuangan); forces Sjahrir cabinet's temporary fall
- 1946–1948Arrested and imprisoned by Republican government; writes autobiography 'From Jail to Jail'
- 1949.2.21Captured and executed by Republican forces at Blimbing, East Java
The organizer who built Indonesia's CP into the world's third-largest communist party
“Marxism is a guide to action, not an inflexible dogma.” — a phrase he repeated to PKI cadres
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), 1951–1965. Working within Sukarno's Marhaenism framework, he systematically built mass organizations across labor, peasant, women's, youth, and cultural sectors, leading the PKI to become Indonesia's largest party in the 1955 elections. Under his leadership the PKI grew to over 3 million members (the world's third-largest communist party) before he was executed alongside its annihilation in Suharto's 1965–66 anti-communist purge.
Career timeline
- 1939–1942Active in Gerindo (Indonesian People's Movement) youth organizations
- 1943Joined the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI)
- 1944–1945Leadership of the underground anti-fascist Gerakan Indonesia Merdeka
- 1947–1948PKI Central Committee member → Politburo member
- 1951–1959General Secretary of the PKI
- 1959–1965Chairman of the PKI Central Committee
- 1959–1965Concurrently member of the Supreme Advisory Council, deputy speaker of the MPRS, and minister without portfolio
- 1965.11.22Captured in Central Java and summarily executed
The Buru Island novelist who composed a tetralogy by mouth, eight-time Nobel nominee
"Each injustice has to be fought against, even if it's only in one's heart — and I did fight." — Exile: In Conversation with Andre Vltchek and Rossie Indira
Indonesia's greatest writer: he wrote his first novel in a Dutch colonial prison, then led the left-wing Lekra cultural movement after independence. Arrested in the 1965 purge, he spent 14 years in Suharto's Buru Island camp, where, denied even a pencil, he narrated the Buru Quartet aloud to fellow prisoners, beginning with This Earth of Mankind. Banned in his own country for decades, his works have been translated into 40 languages and stand as monuments of anti-colonial and anti-authoritarian literature.
Career timeline
- 1945–1947Fights in the Independence War, stationed in Jakarta — anti-colonial propaganda work
- 1947–1949Imprisoned by Dutch forces; writes his first novel The Fugitive in Bukit Duri prison
- 1950–1964Active in Lekra; writes Corruption; cultural exchanges to USSR and China; translates Gorky and Tolstoy
- 1960Jailed 9 months under Sukarno for Hoakiau di Indonesia, criticizing anti-Chinese discrimination
- 1965–1979Arrested in Suharto's coup; 14 years as a political prisoner on Buru Island — composes the Buru Quartet orally
- 1979–1992Released to house arrest in Jakarta — publishes The Girl from the Coast and The Mute's Soliloquy
- 1995–2006Receives Magsaysay Award and Fukuoka Prize; nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature eight times
